this house not to permit a vote. >> we cannot believe that this cruel knife in the back was delivered to our region. they have an obligation to do what they have to do, and that's to provide the aid and relief that we need. if there's one penny they have a problem with, let us know. but don't walk out in the dark of night and ignore us. >> we'll have government help us. where are you? mr. speaker, we need leadership. come walk with me, mr. speaker. come walk with me and see the american people that are suffering. president obama picks up where he left off in hawaii today after a late-night thank you at the white house to both sides for what they did accomplish. >> thanks to the votes of democrats and republicans in congress. i will sign a law that raises taxes on the wealthiest 2% of americans. on wall street, stocks surge

in reaction to the short-term deal, but house republicans have only just begun to fight. >> we also need to address the fundamental causes of our debts and deficits, and that's out of control spending. >> i think it's a little unreasonable for senator reid to say that something that they produced on new year's eve, produced by a bunch of sleep-deprived dock gentlem ed e should adopt within 24 hours. the president tries to draw a line in the sign on the debt battles still to come. >> while i will negotiate over many things, i will not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they have already racked up. plus, hillary watch, just a short time ago, an suv carrying former president bill clinton left from an underground garage at a new york hospital where his wife, hillary, is still being treated for that blood clot in her head.

good day, happy new year, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. president obama arrived in washington today after a victory on the future of tax rates for all americans, but the fiscal cliff has set the stage for still future debt ceiling debacles to come. joining me now for our daily fix in the new year, chris cillizza and our correspondents on the hill, kelly o'donnell from the capitol and luke russert right here on the set. thank you all very much. first you, kelly, the late-night deal that averted the fiscal cliff left a lot of things still to come. what's the next fight? >> reporter: well, in addition to everyone's body clock being a little off, they have to gear up -- it's so true. they have to now begin looking forward, and what you're hearing from republicans, for example, is to say, okay, the tax issue has been resolved. the president got a victory stemming from his campaign of making permanent the middle class rates, raising it only on

the highest end earners, so the president can claim that victory, and they are ready to turn the page and follow up on something the president mentioned before he left for hid hawaii, and that is they need to look at things like entitlement programs, medicare in particular, to see if they can make changes that would reduce the deficit over time. so one battle down, another one commences, and we will see they'll fight over the country's borrowing limit known as the debt ceiling. they'll run up against this two-month delay that they just created on putting off the automatic spending cuts, then the overall issue of the government funding that always triggers the will it shut down question, when the current short of short-term budget approval runs out. there will be key points along the way. while that looks like a lot more fighting, what it always does is gives hard points coming up, meaning fixed points, when

they'll have to negotiate again, give them a reason, momentum, to solve problems they have clearly been unable to handle over time because it's not easy to do these things and they have not been able to achieve the deficit piece, time to turn the page. >> chris cillizza, thanks to you for standing in, my alter ego during this holiday break, sort of wasn't a full break, given all the news that was developing. but chris, winners and losers, short term, then i want to go to luke to talk about the actual votes and breakdowns. this was a short-term victory, and a big one for the white house, but going forward, republicans have a lot more leverage with the debt ceiling. >> right. you know what's interesting, andrea, i think republicans in hindsight would have probably said it might not have been a bad idea to cut a deal before the day after we went over the cliff, because ultimately they were going to lose the political argument of why are you fighting

so hard to protect raising taxes on the wealthiest 1% or 2% of the american public. now the debate is, as kelly pointed out, shifts to the debt ceiling and shifts to the spending side. they are much stronger politically on the spending side, because most people do think the country, the government, is spending too much money. i think this is kind of the low point at the moment. you throw what they did with hurricane sandy or didn't do with hurricane sandy, they are really at a low point, but my guess is they will start moving back upward politically speaking, because they are just on stronger ground. that said, i think john boehner has had permanent damage done to him by the failure to pass plan b, the way he was ultimately kind of on the sidelines of the negotiations. winners, two, joe biden and mitch mcconnell, proving as they did with the debt ceiling and in 2010 with the bush tax cuts, they know how to get things done. >> luke, let's talk first about

the breakdown of the vote. in the house vote last night, only 85 republicans voted for this deal. the speaker, as you pointed out last night, showed some guts in actually voting for it. >> speakers ordinarily don't necessarily vote. sometimes they vote on big bills, but especially with this big vote where he knew cantor and mccarthy were going to vote against it. he made a decision he should be on the yes side of this, for whatever reason, for conversations i've had, look, he wanted to be out in front to tell his republican colleagues this is the best deal they could get in this situation and wanted to put the tax issue to bed finally and felt his support was much needed to be shown, especially after what mitch mcconnell did in the senate for a lot of house republicans. >> mitch mcconnell cut a deal and had 45 republicans. >> passed out of the senate with 89 votes, a huge bipartisan vote. >> that would have given john

boehner a lot of cover. he still could not marshal the support. now with two members of his leadership going against him, cantor and mccarthy, although paul ryan interestingly voted for it, what does that mean for the caucus tomorrow? >> it's interesting. some folks speculated perhaps john boehner might not get enough votes on the first ballot to become speaker. a lot of folks think he'll be reelected without any type of incident, but there's a coalition within the house republican conference that is ready to go against what they view to be the mainstream position, the compromising position in any capacity. what i think is going to be fascinating, andrea, look forward to the debt limit. if you're a rank and file guy and john boehner said, hey, i need you. you can go back and say, yeah, but eric cantor didn't vote what you needed him on, why do you need me? it's going to be interesting to see how it moves forward, and i

think boehner needs to draw a hard line against president obama, because he needs to assert his leadership here in a big, powerful way. >> i want to talk to you in a moment about sandy, but first to kelly, because they failed to do anything on the relief for sandy victims. kelly, what does it say about this congress as at noon today went out of power, the congress has gone or noon tomorrow, rather, goes out of power. the congress is gone, it's over, it's the worst on record, and now they didn't do anything for the relief of the real victims of hurricane sandy. >> this is so politically damaging, because the expectation was that the house would act. the senate did, they put together a package worth $60.4 billion. there had been a lot of foot dragging, i think the term from democrats who wanted more faster, given how long ago sandy hit. what hurts politically, in the latest of the hour, about

midnight last night, there were boos and taunts on the house floor because the speaker decided not to go forward. now, privately what people are saying is that after a very tough vote on this tax package that does, in fact, add to the deficit, it doesn't cut it, which was the expectation among both democrats and republicans, there would be some spending t cuts, they are not there, to take another vote to add $60.4 billion in spending was politically just too much. now, that does not deal with the real-world politics of how people in those areas will hear this. what i'm told is because the new congress is tomorrow, that boehner will try to reassure all those from the affected areas it will be his number one priority to pass it quickly and tomorrow there will be more democrats in both the senate and house, so it could move swiftly. it's about optics, and he's certainly taking a beating today, because the personal reactions from members from the northeast are so, so strong. >> finally, the peter king interview you just did, luke, an

hour or so ago, let's play a little bit of that on this subject. >> republicans have no trouble when it comes to raising money. i would just say anyone from new york or new jersey who contributes one penny to congressional republicans after this should have their head examined. >> chris cillizza, kelly, and luke, chris, that was pretty interesting comment to luke. >> pete king is not the kind of guy who holds back. we know that about him, but i think he's genuinely sort of angry and upset. mike grim, a republican from staten island said similar things. kelly hit the nail on the head, i understand how the desire to vote for a bill how some conservative republicans thought it was larded with things that didn't need to be in there, i understand that, but you have to accept how that looks to the wider world outside the halls of that congress. it looks like you are simply leaving without helping these people. you have to understand that,

whether it's midnight or 3:00 in the morning or 9:00 a.m., you have to understand how this looks to the wider world, not just to the 240 republicans in congress. >> and thanks to you, chris cillizza and kelly and luke. and you know why it looks like they are leaving these people without help? because they are leaving these people without help. thanks to all of you. more to come. after rejecting the president's previous offer for tax and entitlement reforms, republicans ended up getting only the taxes. the first time they voted for tax increases in a generation. >> a central premise of my campaign for president was to change the tax code that was too skewed towards the wealthy at the expense of working middle class americans. tonight, we've done that. thanks to the votes of democrats and republicans in congress, i will sign a law that raises taxes on the wealthiest 2% of americans, while preventing a middle class tax hike that could

have sent the economy back into recession, and, obviously, had a severe impact on families all across america. >> the tax man cometh. the tax man is here, grover norquist, president of americans for tax reform, joining us now. thank you very much. happy new year. >> happy new year. >> why were you in favor of this? it's the first tax increase republicans have voted for in 20 years. >> no republican voted for a tax increase. what happened is obama had the demaclese over the american people, unless the house senate and president voted on something. >> the bush tax cuts had set to expire. >> they were set to expire two years ago and obama extended them for two years without change for everybody, for himself and everyone else. then he said he was worried about the economy and he didn't want to kill jobs. now that his job was safely protected, he's less understood what happened to the economy,

the tax increases that he insisted on, all the republicans in the house and the senate who voted more than once to extend the bush tax cuts for everybody permanently, so the republicans are quite clear. they want the tax cuts extended for everyone. the president insisted on taking them away from some people. that will hurt the economy. he got his tax increase, but he can't claim republican fingerprints on his tax increase. >> let's wait a second. we're not living in the alice in wonderland world here, it's literally a tax increase. rates are up. >> what happened yesterday was all the tax rates went up and then the republicans and the congress together took them down for some people, not for everybody. there was an automatic tax increase, a whole series of tax increases, which were then countermanded in a second bill. here's the good news, the tax rates that we have now and the deductions and credits are all made permanent, okay, so we never end up with this

topsy-turvy situation, and this is where the president is in an interesting position, the one clout he had was this threat to raise taxes on everyone and republicans gave some of what he wanted and couldn't take everything back off the table in terms of protecting taxpayers, but that's gone. so now there are three things apping. one, you've got the sequester, which the president has to fight against. he didn't want to save any of that money. the republicans have insisted on it, and they are going to tell the president it's $1.2 trillion. you find the alternative savings and the sequester takes effect. and the boehner rule, that is you want a trillion of debt ceiling increase because you've overspent by a trillion, which the president is doing for the next four years, you have to cut spending by a trillion or no deal. >> last time i looked congress appropriated the money.

it's bills passed due. >> which congress? the republican house of representatives all voted against that. the spending that's -- >> plenty of other money in there, though, this congress voted for, the house-led republicans went along with a lot of spending in the past two years. look, at this stage, john boehner could have had a deal a couple of weeks ago that would have included some modification on the c.p.i. for social security recipients, and the president said, as well, some adjustment against the wishes of his own party members, he was willing to talk about the raising the retirement edge, the eligibility age. >> democrats in senate said that was off the table, that was never a reality. second of all, we're in a position that we're dealing with spending cuts -- >> didn't john boehner reject a better deal from his values, according to his principles, that he ended up -- he then

ended up finally leading the house to vote for last night? >> no, because last night was not a final deal. last night was a debate over how much of the tax increase obama was going to take off the table, and he took it, it's bad for the economy and unfortunate he got that. but now that's past us, what do we do now? we have a fight for four years on how to reign in obama's overspending. republicans have three pressure points, the president has none. what happened, all the republicans in the house were mad. you saw 157 voted against the deal. were they against cutting taxes for almost everybody? no. they wanted to cut taxes for everybody. they are mad there was no spending restraint, taxes went up, their anger for half a day will be aimed at boehner and for the next four years will be aimed at obama and the democratic white house, and that's where obama has a problem. he's now got four years of people fighting against his spending increases. >> finally, how do you score the split between paul ryan, john

boehner, you know, on one side and marco rubio, cantor on the other side of this whole debate? >> false dichotomy, all the republicans wanted all the tax cuts prepared, saved, and all the republicans wanted spending restrai restraint. i understand both the republicans who voted for this deal took a lot of bad things off the table, a lot of damage obama could have done in the economy, was stopped in the future, and also people said no, to heck with it, it's not everything we want, and they voted no. from now on, they are united against the president's increased spending and the president's efforts to increase taxes, as well. >> grover norquist, i think this is not the last battle. not the last battle. >> it's the beginning. >> thank you very much. coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports," the latest on hillary clinton's health.

secretary of state hillary clinton is still receiving treatment today at a new york hospital for a blood clot in her head. diagnosed after a follow-up mri following a concussion suffered in a fall several weeks ago. joining me now, nbc's chief science and health correspondence, bob bazell. and also with me "the washington post" ruth marcus. first to you, where this clot was found, a follow-up mri we were told on sunday night, and we were told it was a clot stemming from the concussion from the fall. does that mean that the clot was necessarily caused by the concussion or could it be from an underlying condition, or is there no way to really know that fact? >> it may have been caused by both of those problems. sometimes there's sort of a perfect storm of issues going on with any individual patient,

with potential histories of history of blood clots in the past, as well as head trauma. this can increase the risk of getting a blood clot in that part of the brain. >> let me ask you also about how potentially dangerous this is. we know that this is near the brain, not in the brain, it is in the area between the skull and the brain. it is behind the right ear, we're told. we don't know a whole lot more. we are told today the secretary is on with her staff, so she is making calls, but how dangerous would this kind of clot be and how long would the treatment be in the hospital before they can regulate the medication? >> well, typically this type of blood clot in the brain, if the person presents with only isolated headache symptoms, and i'm not certain of the circumstances here and the symptoms that secretary clinton had, however, if she had isolated headache symptoms, the prognosis is very good and typically patients are

relatively stable. they need to remain in the hospital on the intravenous medication until a pill form of medicine becomes therapeutic. that medication takes between three and five days before it works effectively, so she usually would remain in the hospital during this period of time on the intravenous hepburn medication. >> you've covered the concussions and the impact, no pun intend, because this is such a serious subject, of the whole concussion debate in school and professional athletics, but how rare is this, how unusual? you've been talking to a lot of doctors about a concussion potentially causing this kind of effect. >> the reason, i think, in the first few hours mrs. clinton was in the hospital there was confusion because her staff didn't say where the blood clot was. as dr. russman pointed out to me and many others, this is a rare complication of a concussion. usually you get a bleed inside the brain, and that's not

treated with anticoagulant therapy. while this is rare, it's not unheard of, so it's treatable. this is a reminder that concussions are not just a problem in the nfl and they are not just a problem for student athletes. they can happen to anybody who falls down and has a head injury. that's what happened to the secretary. >> and just to clarify, some of the symptoms to be alert to if you have a fall and don't know that you've had a concussion, what are some of those symptoms? >> first of all, you know you've had a concussion if you get confused or are disoriented or pass out after you do have the head trauma, but following that, if you have nausea, vomiting, disoriented, really bad headache, you should seek medical attention immediately, because it could indicate you have either a clot like this, which is fairly rare, or bleeding in the brain, which could be very serious in a hurry. >> ruth marcus, we're told by the state department just now that there's nothing scheduled

for her to be testifying in bengha benghazi, but lindsey graham said, before knowing about this blood clot, of course, that there would be no confirmation hearings for john kerry until and unless secretary clinton appears, and there is no new congress yet, so this is all very, very complicated. now, of course, the first and primary concern is her health. she also, you know, wrote about in her autobiography the blood clot behind her knee in the 1998 midterms as first lady. this is not atypical from the hardest-working secretary of state i think we've ever had. >> she has been very hard working. i think it will be interesting to see how her illness and hospitalization intersected with the confirmation hearings for the chairman of the committee, who's holding the hearings, but i think that one of the things we should all be taking pause and note here as she's in the hospital is maybe we could just -- i know this is going to sound crazy, reduce the level of

cynicism in washington, the people who insisted she had a benghazi headache and that she was just malingering or making up. i talked to folks at the times who said, no, you should understand, she has a terrible black eye, i heard that she had a patch on her eye, i'm not sure if that's correct or not. but let's just all give our fellow humans the benefit of the doubt, even if they are from the other party. >> even if their name is clinton. >> yes. >> dr. russman, finally, we are told she's engaging with the medical team, with her family, and is in good spirits and the doctors expect a full recovery. is that, you know, a likely and encouraging report? >> i think it is very encouraging. the most important thing in patients with this type of blood clot on the surface of the brain is close followup. patients need to be monitored

for worsening symptoms, worsening headache, changes in their level of consciousness, if they get lethargic or too sleepy or develop weakness on one side of the body, speech difficulty, we need to reevaluate and see whether the blood clot has increased in size. in addition, she should be followed closely to see if the blood clot is resolving over time. repeating brain imaging in particular at two to three months before the initial onset of symptoms. usually the prognosis is very good if you have isolated headache symptoms and no evidence of stroke or other neurologic deficits at the time that the symptoms begin. >> dr. russman, thank you very much for joining us from the cleveland clinic. bob bazell, thank you for all your reporting and advice on and off camera the last few days. this has been a challenging period for those of us with no medical experience. thank you. ruth marcus, we'll be seeing you in a moment to talk about other

related topics. up next, jack kingston explaining why he voted against last night's fiscal deal.

i'm proud of my speaker, speaker knew what needed to be done. he provided the cover for us to do it. he let the conference work its will. you know, leadership is about leading, and i think he led last night. >> today some republicans, tom cole, for instance, were defending john boehner after what many call a fumbled strategy in the latest showdown with the white house, but only 84 republicans joined the speaker, a total of 85, in voting for the deal last night. veteran congressman jack kingston voted against it and joins me now. thanks very much, happy new year to you. why did you vote no? >> well, my concern is this was always a two-step discussion. one was on revenues and the other was on deficit reduction. and in the 11th hour, we drop the deficit reduction and punted

that for two more months and been around for awhile and i don't believe anything is going to change in a two-month period of time in terms of washington's spending culture. we just do not have the appetite for spending cuts, yet i thought this was a great opportunity to address them. the house made three attempts, starting in may, to have the senate work on some legislation. they did not react to our legislation, as you know, until new year's eve. we had it at 2:00 a.m. and they passed it. the deficit portion was out of it. i think on the taxes, i would agree with tom cole. i think the package was probably a good compromise. it was right where it should have been, right where the market has driven it, you might say, the political market, but deficit reduction was void in the final package, and that was so important. it's extremely important for america right now. >> wouldn't john boehner have been better to go along with the deal the president first suggested, which included the alteration in the cost of living

in social security? >> i'm not certain that was a real proposal. the president has had a lot of lofty speeches about what he's willing to do, but i know that as the speaker has come out of bargaining rooms with him, that's not what the reality has been, so i think if the president really ever did put simpson bowles, his own deficit reduction commission report, he put that on the table, i think he'd move on it, that's a dollar in revenue for $3 in cuts. that would be a much better deal than what we passed last night. if the president is serious and he will put a package on the table, not just talk about it, but actually draft the legislation and hand it to one of his floor leaders, i think then we would move on it. >> is john boehner a lock to be the speaker after the vote tomorrow? >> yes, and i think another thing tom cole made a really good comment on is that the speaker handled it well. we got a bill from the snad, 2:00 in the morning, we had a

two and a half hour discussion about it, open mic, a very, very good open discussion from all philosophies of our conference. we med again a couple hours later and reached the conclusion if we were unable to amend this bill, then it was best to pass it because of market considerations and the economy in general. but we all know that in two months we're going to have this same drama unfold again, and it won't be any different than the place we were in in august 2011 when we created this whole sequestration system to begin with, so to me it's very frustrating that at some point someone besides conservatives in the house are going to have to say, you know what, we've got to get our fiscal situation in order. for right now, every dollar we spend, 42 cents is borrowed. national debt is 100% of the gdp, and i don't care if you're a liberal democrat, conservative republican, not political, that should concern you. i know it does, but right now

it's easy to say, yeah, but we'll get to it later. >> thanks so much, congressman. thanks for joining us today. will democrats lose the upper hand they think they have in the next round of cliff talks? plus, what the new law means for your pocketbook.

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they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. liberals didn't get everything that they wanted in last night's vote, and now they have the debt ceiling fight ahead. vermont senator, independent bernie sanders is a member of the budget committee and joins me now. senator, happy new year to you and thanks for joining us. what do you do now going forward with the debt ceiling crisis and everything else that you face, how do you change the climate in washington so that we're not living from cliff to cliff? >> i think the answer to that is you do what the american people want us to do. the american people understand that the middle class in this country is disappearing, poverty

is at an all-time high, meanwhile, the wealthiest and largest corporations are doing phenomenally well and the gap between people on top and everyone else is growing wider. meanwhile, the wealthy and large corporations continue to pay relatively low tax rates. what the american people are telling me, what people in vermont are telling me, is that we cannot move towards deficit reduction on the backs of the elderly, the children, the sick, and the poor. that it is wrong. my republicans colleagues, including the previous speakers, talk about spending cuts. let's be clear what they are talking about. they are talking about major cuts in social security for people who are trying to survive on $15,000, $16,000 a year social security. they are talking about cuts for disabled veterans, for people with disabilities, cuts in medicare, cuts in medicaid, cuts in education, cuts in nutrition. i think there are ways to do deficit reduction that are a lot fairer. we are losing $100 billion every year because the wealthy and

large corporations are stashing their money in the cayman islands. let's deal with that. one out of four profitable corporations are not paying today a nickel in taxes. let's deal with that. president obama, as you recall, originally wanted $1.6 trillion in new revenue, and he understands that revenue today in terms of gdp is the lowest it has been in 60 years. we need more revenue from the wealthy and large corporations. so what i will do is part of this process is make sure we close these loopholes and ask corporations to start paying their fair share. >> you know, you in vermont suffered terribly in august of 2011. i recall very well, i was up there, the storm. now what does congress, what does washington say to the people in new jersey and new york who went through this hideous, this horrible superstorm sandy and now don't have the relief and congress goes home? >> well, you're absolutely right. it is incomprehensible. you're right. in vermont we suffered, and now

in new jersey and new york people are suffering. but as you know, we passed an emergency relief program, disaster relief program, for sandy. we passed it in the senate. >> i know you did. >> our republican friends in the house chose not to do with it -- to deal with that issue, and i think that is a real tragedy. >> senator, thanks for joining us today. again, happier 2013 to you. >> happy new year to you as well. >> thanks. stocks are soaring, first trading day of the new year, the market is buoyed by a better than expected report. joining me, ruth marcus, also greg yip. welcome both. the markets just reacting to this last-minute deal? other fundamentals that you are looking at? >> mostly it is the deal. the deal does three things that the markets are happy about, number one, taxes in the new

year, number two, removes some of the uncertainty about fiscal policy that's been plaguing the markets and business for a number of years now. these tax rates are now permanent, also a small but permanent capital gains and dividends tax increase. but looking beyond the fiscal cliffry, we've had a positive economy and i think the markets and investors in the public are hoping they can focus on business as usual and less on washington and what they see tends to be rather upbeat. >> at the same time, people are facing tax increases because the temporary tax cut expired and wealthier people are facing an actual tax increase. middle class people, $450,000, $400,000 for individuals, $450,000 for couples are actually not going to face the tax boosts they otherwise would have had. what is the pocketbook effect of all this, ruth? >> well, the pocketbook effect

is significant. possibly more significant for the non-wealthy than for the wealthy, because one thing that both parties actually agreed on was to athrow that payroll tax holiday to expire, that's a few percentage points, a few thousand dollars out of everyone working's pocket. because everyone pays payroll tax, as we learned, during that 47% debate. i do want to say that i don't understand markets like greg does, but i think this exuberance from the markets is just irrational today, because if i were looking at the situation, yes, everything that greg says is right, we have some uncertainty, et cetera, but this suggests washington's absolute inability to come to a serious comprehensive fiscal deal, so markets looking at long-term debt of the united states should not feel good about this outcome.

>> and, in fact, as we approach the debt ceiling limit and those votes, you've heard both senator, you know, senator sanders and congressman kingston today, both sides are farther apart than ever before and nobody seems willing to bend going forward. >> that's very worrisome, because remember back in the summer of 2011 the president did finally bend on meeting the republicans on the big spending cuts they wanted because he simply couldn't take the risk of an economy being as fragile as it was at that time. he's in a much stronger position now. he's been reelected, economy's stronger, republicans are weaker, so i think the odds of some sort of showdown, something much more white knuckle are even greater than they are then. the thing that's interesting, because this last episode is like the fourth time, i think, in the last two years congress has gone right up to a deadline without going past and striking a last-minute deal, tax rates, government shutdown, debt

ceiling, and it's almost done to the market, wake me up ten minutes to the deadline. if this is the time they actually don't get something done before the deadline, it would be very damaging to confidence. >> indeed, greg ip, ruth marcus, thanks to you. is this business as usual in washington? the strategy session next on "andrea mitchell reports." [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it.

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welcome back. so is governing by crisis the new norm in washington? joining me now, bill burton, former white house press secretary and co-founder of priorities u.s. and michael grisham. happy new year to both of you. >> happy new year. >> likewise. >> let's hope it's a happy new year. but michael, is this any way to run a railroad? >> absolutely not. we've adopted a european model here, going from crisis to

crisis, doing the minimal to solve problems, kicking the can down the road rather than confronting the real issues here, those things were completely avoided in this round of this debate, which resumes in two months, and then will continue beyond that and create economic uncertainty. that isn't the right way to run this system. >> while the white house is celebrating somewhat in the house republicans were put back on their heels and had to cave in and 171 democrats carried the day last night in house that's led by republicans nominally, but the next fight is really going to be all to their advantage. the president can't let the debt ceiling expire. he can't face another downgrading, a further downgrading of the debt of the united states. >> just -- i agree with everything michael just said, just as a citizen to watch how this has all transpired over the course of the last couple weeks is really dispiriting, but going into this next conversation about what's going to happen

with the debt limit, i think that there is some consensus that the era of allowing the nation to go into default is probably over. i think that republicans know that's not really something they are going to be able to toy with the way they were able to in the summer of 2011, and going forward, there's just going to have to be more consensus or else the american people are not going to stand for watching this happen every couple of months where congress brings it right to the brink and we just don't know what kind of progress is going to be made. >> moments last week in particular i was feeling very strongly, michael, when i was looking at some of the old pictures of norman schwarzkopf and writing the stories about norman schwarzkopf's death. when people came together in both parties and did things they felt best for the

i felt that a little bit when president obama had a at what pointing prusz event before this that didn't help with the negotiations. i felt that way with speaker boehner with a deeply divided caucus and not able to do what he needs to do. they have to do something hard as opposed to what senator sanders was arguing. the main problem we have for 30 years in the future is middle class entitlement that we can't afford. we need broader taxes or reduced benefits or a mix of the two. those are the hardest things in politics to do and it will require real leadership by both sides. >> the president said he is willing to make compromises. is he willing to face the denial that michael grish am laid out.

>> if you look at the negotiating position and trying to make a bigger deal on social security, it shows he was willing to bend, even on this deal. the taxes, he bent on the payroll tax cut. he is willing to bend. mitch mcconnell said he didn't have anyone to dance with. the president doesn't have anyone to dance with. when boehner can't get his deputy to support a deal that people think is needed along with over 100 republicans that he couldn't get on board, you see the republican party lacking any real leadership. without that leadership, it will be harder to get a bigger deal and do tough things without two pears that can work together. >> thanks for starting the new year with us. we'll be right back. lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy

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which political stories will make headlines in the next hours.

the house is leaving tomorrow without having finished sandy relief. >> no sandy relief until the 113th congress. they convene tomorrow and look, i think the voters will pay attention to it. john boehner is reelected as speaker? >> stay tuned. thank you very much. we will see you tomorrow. that does it for this first edition of "andrea mitchell reports" for 2013. my colleague has a look at what's next. happy new year. >> to you as well. thank you very much. we are following developing news on the outrage over the house's failure to act on hurricane sandy relief. the jersey governor will hold a news conference. house members are lashing out and calling it a personal betrayal and inexcusable and unforgivable. how the president and speaker boehner are reacting. michael graham in new jersey and he wrote the sandy relief bill and will be joining me live.

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